By Graham Brown

A CRUEL Angus thief has been condemned after stealing two Great Dane pups before callously dumping one of the three-week old pets in a bin bag beside a local loch.

The traumatised animal is now recovering with its owner, but the search is continuing for its sibling amidst fears it may have been sold for a fraction of its worth on the streets of Forfar.

Its owner has received reports of a man touting the dogs around town in a cardboard box before walkers made the chance find of the dumped puppy, rescuing it from an almost certain grim end.

The owner of the animals, Dawn Laing of Easterbank in Forfar made a heartfelt plea for the return of the missing pet.

The pups were born just a few weeks ago to Dawn’s Great Danes Boo and Lola.

“Everyone knows Boo in the town because he’s a harlequin and is very distinctive,” said Dawn, who had intended to keep one of the pups for herself.

The new arrivals are also distinctive dogs—one white and the other a mixed merle colour—but even before their unfortunate theft they had not endured the easiest start in life.

“Lola wasn’t that great a mother and she was only semi-feeding them, so I was bottle feeding them as well,” said Dawn.

The pups’ theft took place on Sunday evening when the thief called at a neighbour’s house before brazenly walking up the drive of Dawn’s home and into the kennels behind the property where the two pups were homed.

“I went down to check on Lola and they were gone,” Dawn continued.

She said she was grateful to get at least one puppy back, but is fearful for the fate of the other dog.

“I would imagine that whoever took them didn’t know much about these kind of dogs.

“The one that’s still missing is dark grey with black splashes and spots so he’s pretty distinctive, and even though he’s only a few weeks old he’s a Great Dane so he’s not a small pup and he should be up and walking about,” Dawn added.

She has received unconfirmed reports a man had been offering the dogs for sale for £50, a fraction of the estimated £1000 value of the rare breed, but police in Forfar were unable to confirm that they had received any report of the theft.

Senior local Scottish SPCA Inspector Mark Lumgair said, however, he had been alerted about the rescued puppy after police advised the couple who found it to contact the animal welfare agency.

“A couple who live in Forfar were out walking and came across the pup in a bin bag and the situation came to my attention as a result of that,” said Inspector Lumgair.